Erie's spring cleanup program starts April 2

The Single Large Item Collection Program is in its 21st year and allows city residents to get rid of one unwanted large item each week along with their regular household trash.

Kevin Flowers @ETNFlowers

Spring cleanup time is nearly here again.

The city's annual four-week collection of unwanted large items is scheduled to start April 2 and run through April 27, city Public Works Director Doug Mitchell said.

The program, formally known as the Single Large Item Collection Program, is in its 21st year. City residents are able to get rid of one unwanted large item each week along with their regular household trash.

Examples of items commonly discarded by residents are couches or broken tables.

Mitchell said the cleanup rules are the same as in prior years, and there are no significant changes to the program.

"People have been calling us already, with the springlike weather recently, asking when it's going to start," Mitchell said.

In 2016, city workers collected 1,664 tons of large items during the four-week cleanup, which started April 10 and ended May 5. That was the lowest weight total since 2009, which saw 1,505 tons of large items collected.

The cleanup is annually budgeted at $100,000. The city spent $92,367 on the 2016, according to Mitchell's office.

Workers from the city's Bureau of Streets and Bureau of Refuse, Recycling and Composting, along with workers from Erie's municipal garage, pick up the large items, which are taken to Lake View Landfill in Summit Township.

The record high in tonnage collected was established in 1997, the program's first year, when city workers collected 3,454 tons. However, cleanup volumes have decreased, Mitchell has said, because the large-item collection program ran for up to 12 weeks in its first few years, which likely contributed to more tonnage.

Collectors who comb the city during each cleanup searching for scrap metal and usable items among city residents' trash also help keep tonnage totals down, according to Mitchell.

Erie Mayor Joe Sinnott has said the cleanup continues each year because residents expect it and value it. The program's cost is built into residents' garbage fees.

Mitchell added that, once again, the city will host collections for both electronics and unwanted tires on May 6 at the city's Municipal Parking Annex, 1926 Holland St., starting at 9 a.m.

The events will give city residents the opportunity to get rid of unwanted electronics items and/or tires. Electronics and tires are not accepted as large items in the city's spring cleanup program.

Kevin Flowers can be reached at 870-1693 or by email. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNflowers.